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Glossary entry

Russian term or phrase:

урючина

English translation:

uryuchina (Central Asian apricot tree with exceptionally sweet fruit)

Added to glossary by Rachel Douglas
Nov 13, 2009 20:58
14 yrs ago
Russian term

урючина

Russian to English Other Botany Central Asian fruit trees
I'm interested to know if anybody has ideas about
1) how this tree differs from абрикос;
2) if it's ever called anything in English other than "apricot";
3) if it's a different species from Prunus armeniaca (which is what apricots are) or is a named variety thereof.

The context is the description of an orchard in a courtyard in Tashkent, fifty years ago. The orchard already has an apricot tree in it called абрикос, but it ALSO has урючина. It has both of them and they are clearly two different kinds of tree in my text. Having looked at pictures of this tree and of its fruit, both growing and drying, so far my ideas are to say "the small Central Asian variety of apricot" or to leave it as "uryuchina", putting a description in parentheses. In that case, I guess I'll need to find out how the fruit or tree-size differs from the regular абрикос.
Proposed translations (English)
4 uryuchina (tree)
References
Wow!
central asian variety of apricot tree

Discussion

Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 15, 2009:
"the uryuchina – our Central Asian apricot tree... ... with exceptionally sweet fruit."

Maybe later I'll revise that to "the uryuchina - the exceptionally sweet-fruited Central Asian apricot tree".

Now, if one of you good people (Jack? Maria? Stasbetman?) would kindly repeat a couple of words from your contribution to this wonderful discussion as an "Answer", that would be nice. If you don't, I'll have to close the question just saying THANKS a lot!
Jack slep Nov 15, 2009:
In response to Anneta, the only touble with CandyCots is that it is a brand name and there are 6 different varieties of it. Just as kiwi fruit, previously called Chinese gooseberry (and originally from Siberia), was named that for commercial purposes because it sounds better and who could refuse the little, flightless, fuzzy kiwi bird (I know, I grow them!).
Anneta Vysotskaya Nov 14, 2009:
I was in Tajikistan last month and asked what is the difference between "apricot" and "uryuk". I was told by the locals that apricots are more for eating fresh, they are not as sweet as uryuk and they are more moist while uryuk is normally much sweeter and has more moisture and not so nice for eating fresh. Apricots are considered more "noble" and are more expensive than uryuk. I would translate "урючина" as "uryuk tree" (wild sweet variety of apricots). I found a US version for uryuk fruit - candycots http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18apricot.html
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 14, 2009:
2 Jack "But if урючина were a cultivar, it would almost always be preceded by сорт and the initial letter capitalized". Almost always, but maybe not in a non-scientific memoir of childhood, where the author calls the tree by this name just because that's what they called it? Anyway, Jack, if you enter the transliteration as an "answer", I'm going to pick it, because - after this fascinating and mouth-watering discussion, for which I thank you all - my draft looks like this: "All the trees in the courtyard were in bloom: the uryuchina – our Central Asian apricot tree with its especially sweet fruit, the grape vines, the dark sour cherries, the red sweet cherries, the apple trees and the lilacs." Hadn't considered capitalizing it. I had "wild" in there before "apricot tree", but took it out based on Zamira's comments and yours.
Jack slep Nov 14, 2009:
My response got screwed up (so what else is new!)...after "is known to be@ comes "I suggest to transliterate....
Sorry!
Jack slep Nov 14, 2009:
As Maria and Zamira suggested, Урюк is a Central Asian variety of apricot, perhap endemic, heritage, or landrace. Since there are "разные сорта урюка," they are cultivated varieties (сорт, cultivar) as opposed to botanical varieties (разновидность). But if урючина were a cultivar, it would almost always be preceded by сорт and the initial letter capitalized. Not all apricots varieties are equal as dried fruit, but урючина if/as a cultivar is known to be to transliterate it Uryuchina (pitted dried fruit apricot variety) and take it from there. Believe me, not everything is translatable and I've had to use many parenthetical explanations in my long, long career.
Zamira B. Nov 14, 2009:
Урюк is a Central Asian variety of абрикос. Есть разные сорта урюка (наиболее ценный сорт, известый мне, называется Сурхан). Но в целом урюк отличается от абрикоса ярко-оранжевым цветом, он слаще абрикоса и более мясистый. У абрикоса плотная консистенция и он суховатый. Урюк же рыхлее, может за счет того, что у него волокна крупнее, я не знаю, я не специалист. Но на нашем Алайском базаре в Ташкенте урюк пользуется большим спросом, чем абрикос. Урюк - не дикий сорт, это точно. В детстве мы его ели даже незрелым зеленым ("ғўра") и называли по-русски "гурышки". Гурышки можно добавлять в плов. Очень вкусно. Насчет отсутствия воды в Ташкенте. Ташкент и Ферганская долина - наиболее благодатные части Узбекистана по части воды. Я думаю, что так было и 50 лет назад.
Aleksey Chervinskiy Nov 14, 2009:
Ммм, шпанка, росла у нас в огороде Темно бордовая, почти черная когда созревает, крупная как черешня, но мягче и сочнее, с кислинкой во вкусе!
Eng-Rus/Rus-Eng Nov 14, 2009:
шпанка - это black cherry (как уже правильно заметили) according to 3 more sources:
http://books.google.com/books?id=4i_1gqf2-vMC&pg=PA1148&dq=ш...
http://books.google.com/books?id=RJ4YAAAAIAAJ&q=шпанка cherr...
http://books.google.com/books?id=0rkGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA705&dq=шп...
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 14, 2009:
2 Jack Slep As a geezerette in training, I would like to thank you very much for chipping in! I've thought highly of you ever since you diagnosed the assembled company with verbal diarrhea. FYI this is not technical writing. We're doing a lyrical description of a childhood memory of the courtyard of the family residence, here.
Maria Fokin Nov 14, 2009:
jack! the person i was hoping to hear input from... am i right about the cherry varieties?
Jack slep Nov 14, 2009:
As you all know, "урюк" is a dried unpitted apricot. Not all apricot varieties/cultivars are created equal as dried fruit. I, and who am I to do such!, would use Uryuchina and parenthetically explain (a dried fruit [apricot if you desire!] cultivar/variety) which distinguishes it from other apricots. As the Ancient Translator, you sometimes have to work around the problem, like today I ran into the Russian fungoagrocoenosis in a mushroom farming article--hell, I used it; if the reader doesn't understand, he should go back to carrying a club and grunting! Don't sweat the small stuff, long live 60 years as an R-E translator!! (PS: nobody reads this crap any
way!) Remember "Jack's Law of Translation: If your don't understand a particular word in a piece of technical writing, ignore it. The piece will make perfect sense without it."
Remember, it's a tough profession, but research, research, research--and then lie like hell! God Bless to all of you newcomers and old geezers like me! (Hi, Jack Doughty!)
PS: I've been translating articles on fruits and nuts (most form California!) for decades, fact right now I'm doing Russian Agricultural Sciences journal, so I know all about them.
Maria Fokin Nov 14, 2009:
cherry variety Rachel, those are three varieties of cherry.
Вишня is definitely sour cherry but I have heard Вишня Шпанка or шпанская вишня being referred to as black cherry.
for example: http://o-db.mobi/en/dictionary/russian_english/shpanskij.htm...

Шпанка - значит "испанка", так называли черешню: испанская вишня, или шпанская вишня. Это ранний сорт,очень хорош для соков и вина.
http://www.cofe.ru/garden/ubb/noncgi/Forum4/HTML/000772.html

IMXO there is no question that абрикос and урючина taste and look different.
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 14, 2009:
P.S. The cherry trees in the drawing, by the way, are: Вишня Шпанка, Красная черешня, Желтая черешня. I was going crazy over that one (partly because of the same "wild cherry" problem), but the author told me to call the шпанка "sour cherry" and the черешня "sweet". He was there, so I won't argue.
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 14, 2009:
2 Natalie That's difficult to do, because the chief evidence is a drawing! The inside cover of the Russian book is an exquisite drawing of this courtyard, with all the trees and shrubs labeled. One large tree is labeled "Урючина", and right next to it are some leaves looming over a rooftop, labeled "Соседский Абрикос". In addition, the author told me they were different types of apricot tree, but he didn't know how to pin down the difference more precisely. He didn't mention the special sweetness of the "урюк" fruit.
Natalie Nov 13, 2009:
Hi Rachel Could you please provide the RU sentences with both абрикос and урючина? What makes you think that these are two different trees? Thanks!
Maria Fokin Nov 13, 2009:
to add to Dan's images... here is a description of this Wild Apricot variety:

The wild apricot is found in western China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
http://www.arkive.org/wild-apricot/armeniaca-vulgaris/info.h...
Libero_Lang_Lab Nov 13, 2009:
not one of these? http://www.arkive.org/wild-apricot/armeniaca-vulgaris/images...
Libero_Lang_Lab Nov 13, 2009:
happy memories i had a few good nights sitting in courtyards in tashkent, eating shashlik and drinking far too much
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 13, 2009:
I can hear the translation... ... heading towards being "stood an uryuchina - the Central Asian wild apricot tree which has the sweetest fruit"... or something like that. Thanks so much!
tschingite Nov 13, 2009:
"So, what are they doing in an orchard inside a courtyard in a city, if they're wild?!"
Ташкент середины прошлого века это не Лондон XVII столетия. Очень жарко, редко температура ниже 40 градусов, практически полное отсутствие воды и ирригации, особенно во внутренних двориках в старой части города. Поэтому-то радивый хозяин и несет туда дикорастущий побег урючины, потому что он менее влаголюбив, чем его культурные сородичи. Понятие дикий и культурный тут имеют не агротехнический смысл, а весьма практичный и утилитарный - то ли нуждается в постоянном уходе и поливе, то ли растет сам по себе, как дичок.
Rachel Douglas (asker) Nov 13, 2009:
Yes... I'm terrible about looking at Wikipedia in Russian, because I dislike it so much in English! That's already very useful info about the fruit being sweeter. I'm having the same problem with various kinds of cherry trees in this orchard, because there are trees which it's perfect to call "wild cherry" or "wild apricot" - but then my mind immediately asks, "So, what are they doing in an orchard inside a courtyard in a city, if they're wild?!" With the cherry trees, however, they also sort out as being sweet vs. sour, so that's easier.
tschingite Nov 13, 2009:
Очень даже тянет! Это так и будет региональная разновидность абрикоса. Урючина - это любое дерево, которое плодоносит урюком. Европейцы называют это абрикосом. Думаю, что Rachel вполне может выбрать вариант some kind of wild apricot
stasbetman Nov 13, 2009:
на ответ не тянет Википедия говорит: Среднеазиатские сорта абрикоса, обладающие повышенным содержанием сахара, называют урюк (тюркоязычные народы называют так все сорта абрикоса). Урючные сорта...
в блоге одном встретил, урючина - это дикий абрикос (wild apricot). Но блог - это как бы "не самая точная" информация)
Урюк - это большое дерево. Еще его называют урючина.
По-вашему это дикий абрикос http://festival.samara.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=974&start=1...

Proposed translations

1 day 17 hrs
Selected

uryuchina (tree)

refer to the sea of comments...
i answers could be shared this would be the time :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2009-11-15 14:58:27 GMT)
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and Rachel.. for the cherry, you may consider transliterating the Shpanka as well... it will retain the exotic feel. Because Shpanka is a bit of a colloquial name (has to do with an antiquated pronunciation of испания, ишпания) the variety actually being called испанская (шпанская) вишня... just something to think about since your translating a literary text and not a gardening article :-)

to my father the word урюк evokes images of Tashkent (where he was born) and Шпанка evokes the Ukraine (although i don't think that's where the name comes from)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes, really, everybody should get a few dozen points for this one! Thanks again. Maria, I especially liked the article you found on botanical terms in everyday life, which included a citation from Ilf and Petrov with verses about the uryuk, etc. As for "shpanka", I don't want to overload this one sentence - a list of all the trees in the garden which were blooming at once - with two transliterations, but maybe I'll use it in the captions for the drawing/diagram of the courtyard. "

Reference comments

5 hrs
Reference:

Wow!

I do admire your command of English, Rachel.
Though, sometimes, you go too overboard, using phrases nobody ever heard of nowadays - that is OUTDATED. /I'd be honored to hear your say.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2009-11-14 02:24:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Take my hand, Rachel!!!
Note from asker:
Thank you, Andrey. I sure hope I have some command of English, seeing as it's my native tongue. Using "outdated" expressions in an era of degeneration of the language is not the worst thing in the world. Meanwhile, I'm greatly enjoying the well-informed and fascinating contributions of so many people to this discussion of apricot trees. Wish I had one. I live in a chilly forest, where we'll be lucky if even the gooseberries ever bear fruit.
Something went wrong...
1 hr
Reference:

central asian variety of apricot tree

I found a nice discussion of this term versus apricot... below is an excerpt:

Consider, for example, the definition of the word урюк given
in the Small Academic Dictionary (Evgen’eva 1981-1984): “fruit of an apricot-tree dried with pits” (высушенные с косточками плоды абрикоса). This definition does not take into account the use of the word with reference to apricot-trees in Central Asia (while the standard Russian word for ‘apricot-tree’ is абрикос, exactly as a donkey may be referred to as ишак in Central Asia while the standard Russian word for ‘donkey’ is осел)
http://mtt.upf.edu/mtt2009/33-AShmelevEShmeleva.pdf

this appears to be a sweeter central asian variety of apricot.

У урюка неповторимый дикий, первозданный вкус, у домашних абрикосов этого вкуса нет, потерялся за столетия. Абрикос кисловато-сладкий, для варенья в самый раз. А вот урюк – он совсем без кислинки, даже незрелый.
http://blog.isabekov.com/2009/04/27/урюк/


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2009-11-13 23:05:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

known in english as wild apricot as has already been suggested

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 hrs (2009-11-14 16:30:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Среднеазиатские сорта абрикоса, обладающие повышенным содержанием сахара, называют урюк (тюркоязычные народы называют так все сорта абрикоса).
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абрикос

Uryuk (урюк) is a word used for Central Asians only and means dried apricot.
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:nu0MBaoElu4J:www.statema...

so maybe Uryuk tree would work...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Anneta Vysotskaya : with Uryuk tree
1 day 1 min
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